1-12-03

The Sunday Times Union (1-5-03) contained an op-ed piece subtitled: “What can be done to help New York, other states close wide budget gaps” It was co-authored by Robert Plattner and Russell Sykes from something called the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy. They claim to have the answer to our fiscal problems.

They began by describing the State’s current fiscal condition and how it got to be that way: “…the results of a confluence of factors including the end of the stock market bubble, the sluggish national economy, …9-11…, and soaring health care expenses.”
Which is like stating: “The man is sick because he has these symptoms”- without really getting at the cause. And after reading further into their ideas on a remedy, and the fact that they claim to have some involvement in creating tax policy, I am of the impression that the advice they have given to state government in the past is part of the cause.

They also list other factors that contributed to our state budget gap, including: an erosion of “revenue-raising capacity” because of “competition among the states for job-creating business activity”…. By this I assume they disapprove of New York’s Empire Development Corp’s use of tax incentives to keep existing businesses here and attract new businesses like Sematech. They also cite the “failure” of Congress to tax Internet sales! - but I’ll have to rebut that gem some other day.

Now, their answer to this budget crisis? Tax the rich! Now I know what your thinking; that’s not very original and will just drive more businesses out of state into the greedy hands of other states that offer tax incentives. Right? But wait, this tax on the rich is different - It’ll be “TEMPORARY.” …..stop laughing. I mean it, this is serious. The premise is that President Bush’s federal tax cut will put extra money in the hands of the rich. So it’s a new source of revenue for New York. That’s why they call this new tax policy “rough justice.”

They go on to decry spending cuts as if they should never be considered as part of the solution. Must be that it would be too simple. Really, how could something as simple as not spending all the taxpayers’ money do anything to balance the budget? What a preposterous notion! If balancing budgets were that simple we’d have no need for groups like the Schuyler Center. Hhhmm! I wonder how many taxpayer dollars it takes for them to determine that spending cuts are a bad idea?

-DRC